


Origin of Freed

by Spidermunkee



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: I Don't Even Know, I'm Bad At Tagging, M/M, Why Did I Write This?, almost literally, at least the plot is original., freed is a kid now, freed is an animal, laxus is a kid now, lucy is confused, maxus is sweet, sorry for my poor writing, the thunder legion gets ambushed, you'll see - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-28
Updated: 2018-06-20
Packaged: 2018-12-20 21:49:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11929944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spidermunkee/pseuds/Spidermunkee
Summary: When Freed and Laxus are suddenly turned back into children during a highly stressful, S-class mission, the rest of the Fairy Tail guild don’t quite know how to respond. But Lucy has questions, and the first one she wants answered is: why in the world is Freed acting like a mangy, wild animal?





	1. Chapter 1

The day was going particularly normal until three o’clock. As the door burst in, no doubt admitting some stupid brute looking for a challenge, Lucy mourned her peace and quiet, hanging her head and dreading the brawl about to start. A loud snarl that didn’t sound like it belonged to a person raised Lucy’s head from its dejected state, and she couldn’t quite hold in her gasp of shock at the sight that greeted her.

Trudging through the door were half of the Thunder God tribe, Bickslow and Evergreen, with a blond kid trailing after them solemnly, blue eyes worried and glancing around the guild with a frantic speed. In Bixlow’s arms, the cause for concern, was another child, except this child was dirty, thrashing, and his eyes were a deep black with glowing purple pupils, narrowed in a terrifying rage. As Lucy watched, the child clamped sharp teeth down onto Bixlow’s arm and shook his head like a dog would a piece of meet. Bixlow’s mouth tightened, but so did his hold on the child.

“What is the meaning of this?” Erza demanded in the sudden silence.

Evergreen seemed to deflate, glancing from Erza to the blond kid holding onto her tattered skirt. “Can you grab Master Makarov, Mira?” she asked lowly, fingers carding through the blond child’s hair.

“No need,” a voice said from behind Lucy’s place at the bar, and she shrieked as he appeared next to her. “I came as soon as I heard the quiet.”

“Gramps!” the blond kid exclaimed, and everyone simultaneously repeated after him in shock.

“Is that Laxus?” Gray asked above the noise. Lucy watched as the little boy (Laxus, this little boy is Laxus) scowled over at him.

“Of course it’s me! Who are you?”

“Enough,” Makarov commanded, and all the noise died down. Makarov hopped down from the bar counter, striding over to pull Laxus into a hug. “Laxus, I’m glad you’re home.”

Lucy watched as Laxus gripped the back of Makarov’s shirt, still unable to process this sudden turn of events.

“Gramps, what’s going on? Who are these people? Why won’t they let Freed go?” Laxus’s voice was slightly muffled due to stuffing his face into Makarov’s coat, but the rest of the guild managed to hear him, and more than one person glanced over to the little boy still growling and thrashing in Bickslow’s arms, jaws dropping in shock.

“Freed?” Makarov asked, and looked over as well. His eyes seemed to sadden as he watched the little boy howl, and he sighed heavily. “Oh, Freed.”

“Can you get them to put him down, Gramps?” Laxus asked, and Lucy couldn’t stop comparing this soft spoken boy to the man that would demand things and expect to be obeyed. “He’s scared.”

“Bickslow,” Makarov nodded, and Bickslow’s arms dropped the little boy.

It happened so fast.

One second the boy was suspended in the air, the next Bickslow was on the ground and groaning, and the boy was in Laxus’s arms, snuffling and making cooing noises while he buried himself into Laxus’s clothes, as close as he could get to the boy. If it wasn’t so damn strange, Lucy would have thought it was sweet.

“Bix, you alright?” Evergreen asked, helping him up.

“Yeah,” he grunted, and his tiki babies pushed against his back to hold him upright. “I forgot how fast the brat was.”

“Wait,” Warden said, hands raised, shaking his head. “This is really Freed? Why’s he acting like a wild animal?”

“He’s not an animal!” Laxus shouted, pulling Freed even closer. His voice lowered, almost as if he was talking to himself, gentle and sincere, “You’re not an animal, Freed, okay? You’re not an animal.”  
Freed cooed again, nuzzling Laxus’s chin, getting the boy to giggle. Lucy seriously thought this day couldn’t get any stranger.

Makarov sighed heavily, hand running over his forehead in a back and forth motion, clearly feeling a headache coming on. “What happened?” he asked, and everyone’s eyes turned to Bixlow and Evergreen.

Evergreen straightened up from her slouch against the door, glasses flashing from the overhead lighting. “We were ambushed on our way home from our mission. We had just finished clearing up the dark guild threatening a town outside of Hargeon, so we were already tired and hurting.”

“There were at least three dozen of them,” Bickslow continued, and it was so strange to see his face so solemn, probably more so than seeing Freed (calm, under control Freed) turned into a wild child. “We didn’t see them coming and they got the drop on us, but most of them weren’t that powerful. Turns out they were just the distraction while the real threat was just beyond the tree line.”

“As we were fighting, Freed and Laxus seemed to be shrinking, and their attacks got slower and less powerful.” Evergreen pushed her glasses up, mouth tight. “They were de-aging right before our eyes. It took some time to find the man responsible. but eventually we managed to take him down. Unfortunately stopping him only stopped the spell, not reverse it. We tried to get the counter spell out of him, but he seemed to chew on something -”

“He killed himself rather than telling us what he knew,” Bickslow finished lowly when Evergreen’s voice dropped along with her eyes. Mutters of shock ran throughout the people gathered there.

“But why did the spell only affect Freed and Laxus?” Levy asked to Lucy’s right.

“My guess is because they were the biggest threat, but we don’t know anything for certain,” Evergreen admitted, crossing her arms defensively.

“Laxus,” Makarov called out, and the blond looked up from Freed, who was sniffing his armpit (What the hell? Lucy’s brain asked, and Lucy was tempted to shrug at it.).

“Yeah, Gramps?” Laxus interrupted himself to giggle when Freed crawled under his large shirt and pop his head through the head-hole, glancing around like a curious meerkat. The whole guild seemed to giggle with him.

“What is the last thing you remember?” Makarov asked, though his voice had softened considerably, Freed’s actions having deflated his burning desire to destroy something.

“Uh,” Laxus started, brows furrowing and eyes on Freed as the boy seemed to finally settle, tucking close and nosing Laxus’s shoulder with a deep grumble. “Jee and I had gotten Freed out of that crazy house, and I just finished naming him - then I woke up with all these guys passed out around me and these two yelling at this guy. He fell unconscious and then Freed was there, and now I’m here.”

“Naming Freed?” Lucy decided to ask, curiosity getting the best of her. Laxus glanced over at her and nodded hesitantly.

“Yeah, he didn’t have a name,” he elaborated. “He was locked up for so long, and now he’s free, so I named him Freed.”

There was silence for a very long moment, everyone taking in the blunt words only a kid could get away with, with a delicate consideration. Freed was named by Laxus. It seemed wonders never ceased.

“Locked up?” Levy asked quietly. The entire guild hall seemed to lean forward to hear the next words.

Laxus seemed to curl around the small boy tucked safely in his arms, still inside that giant shirt, looking vulnerable but would give a good fight. “Jee and I found this creepy abandoned house in these woods, and it was raining so we decided to try and rest up there. It was boarded and there were these runes all over it, and Jee said they were put there to keep a demon inside -”

Laxus paused to glance down at the calm boy grunting and cooing and snuffling softly against his neck. Lucy thought Freed was probably the most adorable kid she had ever met, and also the most heartbreaking.

“Well, when Jee broke the wards, there was this loud howl, like those wolves Gramps took me to see once, and then there were these eyes glowing inside the house. Freed was so scary, I thought I was going to die, but Jee was so cool! He wasn't scared at all, he just walked right in like he owned the place, and he managed to dodge Freed’s attack! Freed is super strong, way stronger than me, and Jee just stepped sideways like the magic Freed threw was a paper airplane!” Laxus’s eyes were wide in remembrance, bright and happy, and Freed seemed to pick up on it for he cooed more audibly, nuzzling closer and purring.

Lucy was stuck on the fact that Laxus said Freed was stronger than him. She remembered how Laxus had the Lightning Dragon Slayer lacrima surgically put into him, but it was still a weird thought for Freed to be stronger than Laxus, despite how scary Freed could be when he was angry or determined.

“You should have seen Freed, he really did look like a demon,” Laxus gushed, into his story now, using small gestures to get his sincerity across. “His eyes had black veins all around them, and his teeth were super long and sharp, and his nails were like claws, and he was so low to the ground, I didn’t know he could stand!

“Jee just picked him up like he was nothing and hugged him! I think Jee did a spell or something to get him to calm down, because Freed just got really quiet and didn’t fight back anymore! It was so cool!

“But then Freed started crying, and Jee kept asking him what was wrong, but Freed just kept crying.” Laxus paused again to run his fingers through Freed’s mangy long hair, smiling at the happy coo Freed let out. “That was when we found out Freed didn’t know what we were saying. Jee said because Freed wasn’t saying anything, just making noises, it meant that Freed didn’t know how to talk at all. He said Freed was like a little baby. And because he was like a baby, and he couldn’t talk, we couldn’t get a name. Jee asked me if I knew any good names, and I told him that since Freed was free now, he should always be free and always remember that he was free. And so I named him Freed!”


	2. Origin of Names

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm back! Well, yall wanted a retelling of how Freed and Laxus met, so here you go. Kind of short, but it throws all of my headcanons in there lol. Hope you like jt!

Laxus grumbled, fingers clenching in his long coat, trudging alongside Jee. He was tired, and dirty, and cold, and Jee didn't want to stop. So yeah, Laxus hated Jee just a little. 

Mostly he hated how Jee had to save him from the damn monkey that attacked them earlier. What was the point in even going on missions? What could Jee possibly teach him? Laxus was too weak to be of any help, and more often than not he needed to be saved. He was a liability, someone that would get one of his nakama killed. 

How was he going to protect his comrades, protect Fairy Tale, if he couldn't even protect himself?

So yeah, Laxus was upset.

And to top it all off… 

Yup. Rain.

“Okay, Laxus, let's see if we can find some shelter around here, yeah?” Jee asked jovially, pulling Laxus’ frown from the sky to his bald head, nose scrunching in discontent. 

“Whatever,” he mumbled back, stuffing his hands inside of the deep pockets inside of his jacket. 

They walked for some time, leaves crunching underfoot, rain pelting at them from all directions, wind whistling through the trees of the forest. It was steadily growing darker and darker, and soon Laxus couldn't see eight feet in front him him. He sidled closer to Jee, feeling his breath catch and hands shake. He bit his lip and clenched his fists to stop the shaking, determined to show Jee that he wasn't afraid. Not one iota.

A shock of lightning struck in the distance, lighting up the forest for a glimpse of a second -

\- A house!

Laxus gripped Jee’s pants, but thunder clapped over their heads, drowning out all noise. Afterwards, an eerie howl rose around them.

“Let's move,” Jee said solemnly, gripping Laxus’ hand and pulling him forward in a quick jog. Huffing breaths and the quiet patter of feet followed them, and Laxus’ breath stuttered in his chest, eyes wide in fright. 

They reached the door of the little house, and Jee whirled around -

“Yarn of Protection!” Strings of wire appeared in a blaze of light, barbed and winding around the porch to cut off anything that wanted to get to them. A wolf shot out of the trees and into their little circle of light cast by the magic, hitting the wires in full force, snarls and barks drowning out Laxus’ gasping sobs of fear. But the wires held, even after all eight wolves launched themselves forward. After what seemed like an eternity, the last of them trudged off into the night, bleeding from small puncture wounds and snarling quietly. 

“They'll find their next meal somewhere else now,” Jee murmured, and turned toward the door of the house.

“What are those?” Laxus asked, squinting in the dim lighting to glance at strange writings and tags of paper along the trim of the door and over the handle, still shaking.

“They are barrier seals, a magic made to keep things from crossing into or out of a specific area. Looks like these are made to keep something inside,” Jee added contemplatively, leaning forward to trace a finger over delicate lines. Laxus gulped silently.

“What are they keeping in there?” he asked, hushed and nervous.

“Looks like a demon…” Jee sighed, gusty. “Okay Laxus, I need you to stay here-"

“- what?-"

“- I'm going to take a look inside.” 

“But what if you get hurt!” 

Jee turned and smiled at the boy, ruffling his golden hair. “Don’t worry, I know how to protect myself. I'll protect you, too.”

Laxus paused, the words ringing in his ears. _Protect me? But I want to protect_ you!

Laxus drew himself up as high as he could, chin jutting forward in a stubborn tilt. “I'm coming with you. I want to protect you.”

Jee chuckled, ruffling his hair again. “That's the spirit. Alright, here's what we're going to do…”

Plan laid out, Jee broke the barriers by opening the door, slinking inside as silently as a cat. Laxus followed after him, back to the wall, hands raised in defense. 

A slow, climbing snarl greeted them, and the hairs on the back of Laxus’ neck stood up. He could see that Jee was similarly affected if the way his hands raised as if to fend off an attack were any indication. A figure low to the ground crept forward, and suddenly there were glowing magenta eyes focused on them. 

Laxus wheezed.

The snarl grew until it was a loud, awful thing, reaching into Laxus’ spine and curling wicked fingers around it, shaking his stomach down to his feet and heart up to his throat. 

Jee cast a light. 

It was a boy! But he was unlike any boy Laxus had ever seen - long green hair in ragged dreads caked over bared teeth and magenta eyes ringed in black. He was dirty, with clawed hands and feet, and scales smoothing over his collarbones and ribs. Ragged black pants that looked to have seen better days were holding on by threads, and there were scratch marks over his arms, some bright red, others dulled. 

He snarled again.

Jee took one step forward and the boy lunged, screaming, anger twisting his feature until he jo no longer looked like a boy but a rabid beast. Clawed fingers twisted in the fabric of Jee’s coat, but Jee wrapped his arms around the boy, tightly, rigidly. The boy screamed again and struggled, but and writhed, clawed and snarled… but Jee held him through all of it. 

When the boy seemed to tire, Jee’s hold lightened slightly, and the hold became a hug. Hesitantly, carefully, Jee rested his shaved head against mangy locks. 

The boy stopped struggling altogether, and he stilled, fingers still twisted in Jee’s coat. Only a moment later, a sniffle sounded, and Laxus drew forward tentatively. After one sniffle came another, and another, and then a sob. 

A wail sounded, and no longer was it a demon, but a little boy with so much pain in his heart all he could do was cry and scream and sob. Laxus couldn't help but cry with him, silent tears littering the floor beside Jee’s leather clad feet. 

“That's it little one,” Jee murmured soothingly, voice timbre and soft. “Cry it out, you'll feel much better. Yes, yes, that's it, I'm here to listen; I hear you. I feel your pain.” 

The crying went on for what seemed like hours, and Laxus had moved close enough to gently clasp the boy’s little clawed hand in his own, fear gone and replaced by a sadness so deep it seemed unending. After the sobs dissipated, the little boy drifted off to sleep, eyes no longer glowing magenta, but a light, ice blue. Jee shifted to sit on the floor, and Laxus joined him, head resting on the man's strong shoulder. “Will he be okay?”

“I'm not sure,” Jee replied softly, careful not to wake the sleeping boy in his arms. “We’ll have to ask him what's happened to him after he wakes.” 

“Okay,” Laxus whispered, and together they sat in silence until the sun came up.

About an hour after dawn peeked its way inside through the window and front door, the boy in Jee’s arms stirred, making cute snuffling noises. “Good morning, Little One,” Jee said softly but cheerfully. The snuffling paused and blue eyes snapped open to regard the man in serious contemplation. “I hope I didn't startle you,” Jee continued, “but it seems we need to be reacquainted, and if possible, to get you some clothes and a bath. And perhaps some food in you, as well.” 

The boy stared unblinkingly into Jee’s face. Jee frowned for a moment. “Do you understand me?” Still kore staring. Laxus was almost amused, but he couldn't see any laughter in Jee’s face, so that squashed any and all traces of amusement. 

“He doesn't speak?” Laxus asked, hushed. The stare switched to him, and Laxus gazed into those calm blue eyes, flush rising in his cheeks for no reason. But without that demonic glow, the boy was quite pretty, almost like a girl.

“I don’t believe so,” Jee replied. “Well, we should still get him some food and some new clothes. I'm sure something of yours should fit him, at least until he gets his own wardrobe. But right now…” Jee looked back down at the little boy’s curious titled head, and smiled warmly. “Hello, Little One, my name is Jee Justine. It's nice to meet you.”

“And I'm Laxus! It's nice to meet you Freed!”

Jee and Laxus both paused, glancing at each other in astonishment. “Did I just…” 

Jee nodded, and slowly a smile encased his face once more. “You named him. I believe Freed suits him quite well, don’t you, Freed?” 

The little boy - Freed - answered with a chirp and a squeak, burying his face in Jee’s warm coat.


End file.
